DETAILED ACTION
A. This action is in response to the following communications: Transmittal of New Application filed 08/18/2023.
B. Claim 1 remains pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being clearly anticipated by Humphrey, Scott Gilman et al. (US Pub. 2021/0055005 A1), herein referred to as “Humphrey”.
As for claim 1, Humphrey teaches. A temperature controller configured to control a temperature of water contained by a water tank, wherein the controller comprises (par. 31 A water heater system includes a controller configured to manage operations of a recovery pump for circulating hot water between a water heater and a hot water storage tank. Conventionally, a separate temperature sensor and controller combination device, such as an aquastat, may control a recirculation pump for recirculating hot water through a building's hot water recirculation circuit):
a user interface with a display to change the parameters of the water tank control (FIG. 5 is a configuration user interface to monitor and configure parameters of the recirculation controller) system that raises or lower water temperature within the water tank, communication circuitry configured to receive from one or more inputs from an electronic computing devices such as smart phones, tablets, smart watches, laptop computers, desktop computers, electronic devices with a water control temperature software installed designed to send messages from the communication circuitry, capable of communicating over a public or private network (par. 36 The control signals may be received from a user interface on the water heater 104 or from a remote source, such as from a mobile application on a smartphone),
the communication circuitry also configured to send to users notifications when the parameters of the water tank control circuitry have been changed processing circuitry configured to identify, from the electronic signal from the communication circuitry, sensors, and requests from devices with the water temperature control software, to activate adjustments to the water tank control circuit to raise or lower the water temperature in the water tank (par. 37 The water heater 104 also has an internal controller 104c which controls internal functions of the water heater 104 and is configured to electronically transmit an error notification to at least one external device. The error notification communicates system errors pertaining to internal functions of the water heater 104),
the adjustments can be from preset parameters in memory, or based upon the user communicating with the temperature controller with unique parameters that may or not be stored in memory (par. 66 the user interface 500 may include the setpoint temperature of the water heater 104, the tank temperature);
memory storage to record all users with access to the temperature controller, and to store all preset and custom parameters to the temperature controller (par. 66 FIG. 5 shows an implementation of a configuration user interface 500 to monitor and configure parameters of the recirculation controller 114. The user interface 500 includes a set of monitored values 502 that are measured or received from the internal controller 104c by the recirculation controller 114 Par. 70 Referring to FIG. 6, an example computing device 600 upon which embodiments of the invention may be implemented is illustrated. For example, each of the internal controller 104c of the water heater 104 and the recirculation controller 114 described herein may be implemented as a computing device, such as computing device 600. In the distributed computing environment, the program modules, applications, and other data may be stored on local and/or remote computer storage media.).
(Note :) It is noted that any citation to specific, pages, columns, lines, or figures in the prior art references and any interpretation of the references should not be considered to be limiting in any way. A reference is relevant for all it contains and may be relied upon for all that it would have reasonably suggested to one having ordinary skill in the art. In re Heck, 699 F.2d 1331, 1332-33, 216 USPQ 1038, 1039 (Fed. Cir. 1983) (quoting In re Lemelson, 397 F.2d 1006,1009, 158 USPQ 275, 277 (CCPA 1968)).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Document ID
US 20220312698 A1
Date Published
2022-10-06
Abstract
A sensor system is described. The sensor system includes one or more sensor nodes. The sensor nodes are communicatively coupled to a server by way of a network. The sensor nodes may be communicatively coupled to the network by a cellular connection or a LoRa connection to a gateway. The sensor node may measure a variety of information associated with a transport environment, a confined animal feeding environment, or another agricultural environment.
Document ID
US 20220057126 A1
Date Published
2022-02-24
Abstract
A method of operating a water heater is disclosed. The method includes obtaining a first input corresponding to ambient temperature and a second input corresponding to evaporator temperature. The method includes determining the ambient temperature from the first input and the evaporator temperature from the second input, followed by determining whether the ambient temperature is less than a first threshold temperature. The method includes determining whether the evaporator temperature is less than a second threshold temperature when the ambient temperature is less than the first threshold temperature, where the second threshold temperature is less than the first threshold temperature. The method also includes actuating a heating element coupled to one or more tubes of the evaporator to heat refrigerant present in the one or more tubes, when the evaporator temperature is less than the second threshold temperature.
Inquires
Any inquiry concerning this communication should be directed to NICHOLAS AUGUSTINE at telephone number (571)270-1056.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
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/NICHOLAS AUGUSTINE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2178 September 15, 2025